Wynwood: Planners unveil a greener and more pedestrian-friendly neighborhood

The streetscape of Wynwood could change in the future, with pocket parks, lavish landscaping, a bicycle and wellness loop, and extra woonerfs, a shared street design intended to slow down traffic.

This week urban planners revealed their proposals for the streets of the neighborhood at Wynwood Business Improvement District.

Michelle Cintron and Ben Hutchens, Arquitectonica GEO vice presidents, revealed an initial version of the plan, and Jennifer Bolstad and Walter Meyer, Local Office Landscape & Urban Design founding principals, presented four types of a woonerf being proposed for Northwest Third Avenue between 25th and 29th streets.

With numerous large-scale commercial and residential developments, such as Wynwood Square, Wynwood 25 and Cube Wynwyd coming to the neighborhood both public works projects would change the pedestrian and car experience in Wynwood radically.

Arquitectonica’s proposal includes an extension of the sidewalk curbs to narrow the gap at crosswalks, thus crafting mid-block crosswalks and decreasing the number of on-street parking spaces along some streets. The sidewalks would feature geometric patterns and be lined with a collection of native trees and shrubs. A network of green bike lanes would connect at critical intersections to create a 2.5-mile loop around Wynwood, and stretches of Northwest First Avenue and First Place would be converted into woonerfs.

While Local Office’s woonerf concept for Northwest Third Avenue would create a single lane for cars, bicycles, and pedestrians to pass through that would be closed to vehicles during significant events.

Albert Garcia, the vice-chairman of the Wynwood BID, said the woonerf could serve as a test run for future public spaces in the neighborhood. “We have a drought of public space,” Garcia said. “This woonerf, if properly executed, will be a draw into Wynwood.”

Arquitectonica GEO and Local Office could present final versions of the master plan and the woonerf design this summer.